Body Double
by serenitysea
Summary: Post-Reunion. When a freak Meta-human accident/explosion occurs, Helena and Dinah switch bodies. Hijinks insue.
1. Part One

Body Double

Part 1 PG-13 Serenity Sea 

(Serenity_Sea@yahoo.com)****

**Author's notes: I was bored while waiting for inspiration to strike me on my other stories and this is just something that hit me after extreme jet lag and being awake for 22 hours. Enjoy.**

Summary: Post-Reunion. When a freak Meta-human accident/explosion occurs, Helena and Dinah switch bodies. Hijinks insue.

* * * * *

          "Everything going smoothly?" Oracle questioned from their linked comms.

Helena rolled her eyes at Dinah. "Everything's juuuuuuust peachy." A loud explosion went off in the distance and she shook her head. 

Dinah smothered a grin and barely had time to question, "Oracle?" Before the details started pouring in. 

          "Okay, the black and whites have all gone either MIA or injured on scene. There was some sort of explosion and I think that may have caused the radio silence—"

The air 'whooshed' behind her and Dinah sighed. "Um, Oracle, I think we need a location before Huntress goes off to the wrong crime scene."

          "Right, sorry. I'm triangulating the signal now… okay, it's on Morrison and 5th. And Dinah, be careful. We have no idea what we're walking into here."

          "Right."

* * *  
  


When she didn't see Reese at Oracle's location, she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. It could be good, because maybe he hadn't gotten injured… or it could be bad, because maybe he had and now was out of view. The whole train of thought was starting to freak her out, so she raced to the ledge and peered over. 

          "Huntress? What do you see?"

          "Not much, though it smells like someone was manufacturing stink bombs. I'm going in for a closer look." She jumped off the ledge and landed next to a particularly charred set of bones. "Oh, gross."

          "What is it?"

          "Looks like a bunch of people got toasted. Where's Dinah?"

Footsteps sounded behind her and Dinah appeared. "Right here. What's up?"

          "Can you do that touchy-thing to dead people?"

She looked a little weirded out. "I don't know. Oracle?"

          "Hey, don't look at me for this one. We know that we have no idea what your limits really are. But if Huntress is asking you to do what I think she's asking you to do… make sure you're okay with it first. It could be some pretty gruesome stuff."

Dinah looked at Huntress in askance. She sighed, "I just want you to touch the remains of charbroiled Bob here and see what you get. I don't think a human with a blow-torch did this, but it's not out of the question. Some people have a lot of rage…"

She looked at her dubiously. "Okay, but I'm not making any promises." Then she crouched down to the pile in question and gently laid her hand atop it. There was nothing for a long couple of seconds and she was about to give up when—

Everything suddenly went monochromatic shades of black and white and every color gray in between and she saw someone standing in front of her. To her right was a tall man with light hair and soft colored eyes, Helena's _Bob_, she assumed, and it appeared to be a woman's face from in front of her.  From very far away, she thought she could hear Helena's voice but before she could do anything about it, there was a bright flash as she was suddenly thrown out of 'Bob's' mind.

          "That was freaky."

          "What did you see?" Huntress and Oracle asked, almost simultaneously.

She rubbed her temples wearily. By the time they got back to the Clocktower, she was going to have a massive headache. "A person… a _woman_," she corrected herself, remembering the need for correct details. 

          "Did she have long black hair that stuck out from every angle?" Huntress asked, sounding a little strange.

Dinah thought back to the image. "Actually, she did," she stumbled, trying to get up. "And these weird looking eyes. They were purple."

          "And these eyes," Huntress continued, sounding strained, "were they—I don't know—" she chuckled nervously, "—_sparking_, almost?"

She had a really bad feeling about this. Dinah slowly looked up and met the description of her vision and Huntress' questioning—in the flesh. "Yeah," she gulped. 

          "I thought so."

The woman looked at them and purple sparks flew from her skin. 

Huntress reached up and touched her earpiece. "Oracle, I'm going to say this is a Meta, specializing in all things electric."

          "Hold on. Stall her for as long as you can, I'm accessing the Meta-database now."

Dinah and Huntress continued to keep an eye on their company, albeit warily, and ready to move at any second.

          "Oh no," they heard Oracle say.

          "It's never a good thing when she says that," Huntress looked at Dinah.

          "I hate it when she says that." Dinah said at the same time.

They had just enough time to react when the woman flipped and two bolts of lightning flew their way.

Huntress back-handspringed gracefully, landing on the sidewalk to the left. "Just when you thought you'd seen it all," she murmured, waiting to see where she'd strike next. "You find one with foot-powers. That's sick, in a strange way."

Across the street, she heard Dinah yelling, "Hey, you think you could have _warned us about _that_?"_

          "I tried," their red-headed friend replied, "that was what the 'oh no' was for."

          "Next time," Dinah rolled over, dodging a bolt of lightning, "try _faster."_

          "Hey Zeusette!" Huntress called, tapping her foot. She heard Oracle choking on something and felt Dinah's look of shock. "What? So I picked up a little Greek mythology in High school, is that a crime? I was only there because Mr. Mythology was a major hottie." The raven-haired female was glaring at her. "Oh, sorry. What am I, designer leather-clad for nothing?" 

The woman altered her course and starting coming towards her instead.

Oracle had an idea and privately commed Dinah. "When she gets in the middle of the street, tackle her. You and Huntress can double-ambush her that way."

          "Gotcha," Dinah got up from the ground and stealthily made her way back to the fray.

          "Do you _talk_?" Huntress asked, ducking another punch and keeping an eye on her opponent's feet. The punches came faster and one almost gained purchase on her shoulder. "Guess not," she switched eyesight and started to fight back. From the corner of her eye, she saw a blonde head inching her way towards them.

Then it disappeared and before she knew it, Dinah'd tackled her instead of the bad guy. "I'm sorry!" Was all her partner had time to get out before a bright light went off in their faces. Helena had just enough time to cover her eyes before it all went black.

* * *  
  


The next time Helena opened her eyes, she wished she hadn't. There was a big white light above her and judging from the slight padding underneath her, she was in the lab in the Clocktower. It wasn't like she hadn't been here enough times to remember what it was like. The question was—

          "How did I get here?"

Well that was weird. She and Dinah were close, to be sure, but close enough where they were reading each other's mind—oh wait. That was fully possible. She pushed up from the table, carelessly knocking aside the slight cover Barbara insisted on using. 

          "Oracle?" Dinah called, though Helena couldn't see her. "Where are you? And where's Dinah?"

Okay now it was annoying. That kid better get a grip on her powers, because the next thing Helena started thinking was going to involve pain and lots of it. That was just weird. Why would Dinah be asking for herself? Helena turned around to see if she was resting next to her on the other bed—it sure sounded like it—and gasped when she saw herself. Or, more accurately, her body. 

Now she didn't know what was worse. She was either dead or having an out of body experience. Someone tapped her on the shoulder and she flinched.

          "Jeez, Barbara, don't do that. You scared the hell out of me."

Barbara frowned. "How's your head?"

Helena was about to ask her what the heck she was talking about when she became aware of a dull throbbing pain in the back of her consciousness. "Fine until you asked about it," she mumbled under her breath. "How's Dinah? Is she okay?"

The redhead's expression was extremely wary. "Dinah, is there any reason why you've been talking about yourself in third person?"

Helena put her hands up slowly, "Whoa, whoa, WHOA. I'm not Dinah. I'm Helena. Barbara, you feeling okay?" She tried switching her eyesight, to see if anything was off. That wasn't right. It wasn't working. "Barbara, my eyes aren't changing. Something is seriously wrong here."

She leaned forward and brushed a hand against her forehead. "You don't _feel_ warm."

          "That's because I'm not. _I'm_ not the one with the mental powers. And why are you calling me Dinah?"

Barbara wordlessly handed her a silver tray normally used for holding her chemicals. 

Helena's eyebrows rose, but she held it up to her face just the same. She'd been through this routine before, when Oracle was trying to impress on her that not all scrapes were fixable via Clocktower. What she saw made her do something she hadn't done in a very long time.

She screamed. 

* * *

Dinah woke up to the sound of screaming, which wasn't too strange, considering her new line of work. What _was strange, however, was that it sounded familiar. Eerily familiar._

          "Okay, can we please cut the sound here? My head is killing me," she said automatically, remembering how she'd used her powers before. Her voice sounded odd; deeper than usual and with a sort of lilt to it. She sat up and looked around, her eyes settling on the empty bed next to her. "So much for that idea," she muttered, sliding off the bed. 

Her legs felt more stable than they usually did after straining her powers like she had just done. Maybe she was healing faster. It wasn't unheard of, Helena did. Helena. Speaking of… "Helena? Oracle? Alfred? Anyone?" When she had made it around the two large tables covered with varied looking but scary chemicals, she saw Barbara. 

And herself.

          "What the hell?" She asked, her voice suddenly sounding a little more recognizable. 

Her double turned around with fire in her eyes and she reflexively put her hands up in classic surrender pose, backing away. "Don't kill me. I just want to know what's going on." The 'her' came closer and she tensed. "Hey. Back off."

Suddenly, her world changed from normal colors to green and varying shades of red. The red represented the warmth in the room, almost like an infrared scan. It reminded her of the time when she used the funny looking glasses at the dockyards. She didn't like it very much, and blinked, trying to get it away. When she opened her eyes again, the view was normal.

Barbara, who seemed to be watching her with an almost disrespectful curiosity, suddenly smiled. "Aha. Dinah, Helena, come with me into the Clocktower. I have an idea."

Helena? Where was Helena? Dinah shrugged, moving into the familiar path with an almost sinful ease. If her body healed and moved like this from now, she could definitely get used to it. The person who, for all intents and purposes, could have been her twin, shoved her aside, following Barbara almost on the heels of her chair. 

When they got into the main area of the lair, Barbara had her sit in the same chair she'd been put in when she first arrived at the Clocktower, when they'd checked her brain. She reached to move her hair aside and her fingers grasped air. Puzzled, she ran a hand over the top of her scalp, only to be met with thick, short hair. 

          "Hey guys? My hair's gone."

Barbara smothered a grin. "Not quite. Sit still for a minute while I scan you, okay?"

Wondering why she wasn't freaking out in a situation when she ordinarily would have didn't leave much time for thinking about anything else and the process, which took less than a minute, was over before she knew it. Barbara made noises that would have meant progress, in normal situations. She didn't know why it felt so weird this time, but she knew it wasn't normal. 

          "Dinah?" Barbara asked, moving things around on her desk until she found her bag, whereupon she reached inside and withdrew what looked like a makeup compact. 

          "Hey, Barbara, I know I was just in a fight and everything, but don't you think now is maybe not the time to be refreshing my makeup?"

That all-knowing half smile was back. "Just take a look in it—Helena, why don't you go take a seat where Dinah just was."

          "I don't know why I have to do this," her twin muttered, answering, for some reason to Helena's name, "I can tell you've already figured this out."

"The chair please," Barbara ordered gently in her no-nonsense tone she usually reserved for occasions when Huntress was being especially stubborn. This time, when she scanned, actual words formed. "Just as I suspected."

By now, Dinah had opened the compact and was currently staring in shock at the face on the other side. "Hey, Barbara, I think your compact is defective. Either that, or you pasted a picture on here. Otherwise why is Helena looking back at me?"

          "Because," Barbara settled in her chair comfortably as she turned it around to face the two of them, "You've switched bodies."

* * *

Dun DUN DUN!!!! Am I a horrible person or what? You know the drill. Review. Review. Review. Do I need to say it one more time? Okay. I will. Review. I'd like at least 15-20 to continue onto part two. 


	2. Part Two

BODY DOUBLE | PART TWO  
  
A/N: Major thanks to everyone who waited for me to get my butt back in gear. I haven't been writing a lot of BoP fic lately, because of the lack of it on TV, but have slowly been trying to integrate myself into the Birds- verse once again. Hopefully this doesn't stink. Also, this picks up directly after the first part left off.  
  
I've been playing around with the way this whole reversal thing works and when you see Helena talking or doing something, know that it's Helena in Dinah's body. Same goes for Dinah. Even though it says "Dinah walked down the hall and. . ." it's really Dinah, in Helena's body. Got it? Good.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Figures," Helena muttered, more than a little disconcerted when Dinah's bubbly voice hit the air. She was going to have to get used to that. It just wouldn't do for people to stare at her shocked face every time she spoke. "You get tackled by your partner and somehow manage to get in her body. Did I mention that I never wished for any other body but my own when I was growing up? I mean, there is no reason for this. I don't deserve it at all."  
  
"Oh be quiet," retorted Dinah, who was currently wearing her skin; this became even more apparent as her eyes changed. "Like I *asked* for this. I was just trying to save your ass and you give me all this crap. Next time, I'll just stay out of your way and let you get killed."  
  
Before it could get any further out of hand, Barbara, ever the voice of reason and wisdom, spoke up. "I have a theory as to why it's happened. If. . . anyone's interested." The two looked at her. She cleared her throat. "I think because Helena was in her Meta form-which, incidentally saved her life-and Dinah subconsciously absorbed the blow and redistributed it, it caused some energy imbalances and therefore switched your bodies."  
  
"Great," Helena replied sarcastically, though it failed to deliver the usual zing since it was through Dinah's voice. "Just what we need. Are we stuck like this?"  
  
"I'm going to work developing on a similar charge to switch you back, but this time, Helena's going to have to do it. The only problem is, it's probably going to take some time, and Helena, you have no control over Dinah's powers yet. You're going to need to get them somewhat mastered before this can happen-I have a feeling it's going to be a one-time thing and if you mess up. . . it might become permanent before you can try again." She looked at their blank faces and added, "DNA imprinting and stuff."  
  
"Sh*t," Helena mumbled quietly.  
  
It was bad enough that she'd had to get used to her own powers, but they weren't as loose cannon-y as Dinah's were. Not to mention that Dinah was a full blown meta, which added to the problem, since she still had trouble with her own status as what Gibson affectionately called a "halfer". Now she had to learn a whole other set of powers that were as controllable as anything was without limits. For some reason, this made her think of herself, in her later teenage years. A force to be reckoned with; and prime example unpredictability. Strange that she should be thinking this now, when she wasn't even in her own body. Somehow she'd always thought that reminiscing happened when you were comfortable with your own skin. . . which she obviously wasn't even in at this time.  
  
"Until then, you have no choice but to go to school and work as each other."  
  
In Dinah's body or not, there was no mistaking a seriously pissed off Helena Kyle. "There is no way I'm going back to that seventh pit of hell that's mistaken for High School. And-she can't serve liquor, she's a minor!"  
  
"Not anymore," Dinah chirped, feeling a little smug at the moment.  
  
The computer screens started to flicker and they all looked up. "Uh, Helena?" Barbara gently inquired.  
  
She looked back at her and frowned. "Sorry." A moment later, the screens resumed their current tracking of New Gotham's most notorious alleys and one extremely uneasy blonde had her arms folded across her chest.  
  
Classic Helena for "I don't want to talk about what just happened even though it really freaked me out beyond words."  
  
The redhead sighed. "As much as I hate to admit this, Helena's right. She could lose her job if Dinah goes in her place. But I'm pretty sure she has some vacation days that she can use, so we should be covered there. As for Helena. . . you've already done the High School gig, it should be old hat to you by now."  
  
She rolled her eyes. "Whatever," and started to walk out of the room.  
  
"Wait, please." Her tone of voice brooked no argument. "Just so you know, from this point on, I'm going to call you by your own names, so you don't get confused. You will answer to it, regardless of whose body you're in." They continued to look at her until she looked away from her computer screens. "Oh, that was it. You can go now."  
  
* * *  
  
Even though they were in each other's bodies, didn't mean that their personal space--for example, their rooms--no longer belonged to them. Helena walked into her room at the Clocktower and tried not to look as she passed the mirror. It didn't work. She sighed and stood in front of the full-length mirror, assessing her new figure and the options it had.  
  
She flicked a piece of hair experimentally. "This could be fun, for a little bit. I always wanted to be a natural blonde."  
  
Sighing again, she walked over to her closet and looked at her dark clothes. She was going to have to go back to school tomorrow. Ugh. Something told her that if Dinah came to school clad in something other than her usual funky style, something like--Helena's all-over uniform black- -it might cause somewhat of a stir. And while she was all for making an entrance, there were easier ways to do it.  
  
That being said, there were some things here that she didn't want Dinah to even lay eyes on. Hell, there were some wisps of clothing that Barbara would have an apoplexy over. She ran a hand through her hair and grimaced when it tangled in the long, blonde strands. And tried to remind herself that it could always be worse. She could have switched bodies in the beginning, when Dinah's hair was nearly down to her waist. She shuddered.  
  
"Okay. Enough with the thinking. If I want this stuff to be hidden, I've got to get a move on."  
  
Helena threw aside the normal shirts and pants to reveal a second bar of clothing in the back. It consisted mostly of leather and very small tops and skirts. She grinned. Maybe in a day or two, Dinah could have some fun after all. Besides, wasn't there a guy she wanted so desperately to impress?  
  
* * *  
  
It was weird. Okay, of course it was weird, but walking around like this, where it felt like every limb and muscle in your body was connected? It was sinful. It felt so good, she almost never wanted to stop moving. How could Helena complain about being sore when the end result was a saunter that had men all over the place dumbfounded? If she had that gift, she wouldn't give it up for the world.  
  
Not to mention, she glanced up at the second story railing and estimated the distance, crouching slightly. Seconds later, she was hanging onto the metal for dear life.  
  
"Barbara!"  
  
"Be right there," she called back, busily typing away.  
  
"No, I really need your help, here."  
  
The soft whirring of her chair sounded louder than normal in Dinah's ears as she waited for her mentor to arrive.  
  
"What happened?"  
  
She winced, and let one hand off the railing so she could look at her. "I tried to jump. I guess I don't quite have the hang of it just yet."  
  
Barbara's eyebrows rose. "That's why you're letting all your weight fall on one arm? Pull yourself up, Dinah. It should be relatively easy."  
  
Dinah gripped the railing tight and tried to imagine her body moving. It wasn't working. She said as much to Barbara.  
  
"That's because you're trying to move with your mind. Use your *arms*, Dinah. That's how you got there in the first place."  
  
A look of determination filtered into her eyes and she was suddenly flipped over the rail. "Whoa," she put her arms out for balance, looking oddly like a surfer. Then she examined the finger-dents in the railing. "Sorry."  
  
Barbara shook her head, smiling. "Look down that bar, about two more feet."  
  
There was another set of markings nearly identical to the ones she'd just made. Dinah cautiously set her hand over it and let it close over the indent. Sure enough, it was a perfect fit.  
  
"But I didn't do this!" She protested.  
  
"I know," Barbara wheeled away, going to the elevator. "Helena did, when she was still learning."  
  
* * *  
  
She had a pile of clothes stacked precariously high on her bed. "What am I supposed to do with them now?" Helena asked, gesturing to the pile.  
  
The clothes suddenly lifted an inch off the bed and she was acutely aware of a slight pressure in her mind. Her eyes widened with understanding and she willed them higher. The pressure increased, but not too much. Little by little, getting acclimated to the feeling, she lifted the garments and started separating them, setting them into a circle, hanging around the room.  
  
A giggle escaped her as the clothes whirled merrily in a circuit of the room's perimeter, looking like some messed-up amusement park ride. The door opened and startled Helena, who lost concentration and let the clothes go. A mesh-bra top landed on Barbara's head.  
  
She peeled it away from her face disdainfully, and gave her a reproving look. "What's going on in here?" She threw the shirt off her and was surprised to see it hover in the air, three inches from her eyes.  
  
Helena stared at the shirt intently, her eyes tracking it's movement until it landed safely on the bed. "I was just doing a little. . . cleaning up."  
  
Barbara made a sound of unbelief and watched as all of the clothes lifted off the ground and joined the shirt in a flurry of movement. It was weird, but she'd swear it was Helena's own mischievous grin shining through Dinah's sunny exterior.  
  
She cleared her throat, hoping to get her attention. "I see you're getting the hang of things."  
  
"Little by little," Helena modestly replied, lifting her hand and flicking her wrist slightly. The door slammed behind Barbara and she winced. "Now. We need to talk about a few things."  
  
* * *  
  
Even the gym felt like a whole new experience for her. She felt like she could go for hours on end, after the punching bag, or with the escrima sticks. Her arms moved fluidly, and she'd spent at least twenty minutes finding out that Helena could do a pretzel with no effort whatsoever.  
  
The dumbbells and weights scattered about the training room were witness to her learning status, but a few more hours of this and she should have it down. The only thing she wasn't looking forward to was the jumping. Oh sure, it was fun, once you got the hang of it. Helena probably thought nothing of it as she crossed several street lengths at twenty feet in the air. But the falling part? She wasn't really looking forward to that.  
  
"Look at it this way, squirt. You always land on your feet."  
  
She whirled around to see Barbara and. . . well, this was still uncomfortable--herself in the doorway. It was even stranger to see her own body leaning against the doorway in a casual pose that practically screamed Huntress.  
  
"How did you--"  
  
"Telepathy," Helena smirked, tapping her head gently. "You've got so much fun trapped up here in this brain of yours."  
  
A low growl sounded in the room and she was shocked to find it was coming from her. "It's nice to know you're having a good time," she let punching bag have it with her arm, dodging the returning glide it made.  
  
"I am." Helena returned, flipping her blonde hair teasingly. "But that's not what I came up here to talk about."  
  
"You can take the body of the Huntress, but you can't take Huntress out of Helena Kyle," Barbara muttered softly, wheeling in between the two girls.  
  
She gazed around at the scattered chaos in the room, then glanced back at Helena, who nodded. With a few flicks of her hand, the weights and dumbbells were replaced in their usual spots, and even the swinging punching bag stood still. Slowly, her fingers uncurled from their fist-like formation and she breathed heavily.  
  
"Wow. Guess that takes a lot out of you."  
  
This time, it was Dinah's turn to smirk. And she did so beautifully. "You're not me, not just yet."  
  
"I don't really want to be you, actually, but as long as I'm stuck here, I might as well make the best of it." Then she shook her head, as if trying to clear it. "God. Now I even *sound* like you. I hate optimism."  
  
"Look," Dinah put her hands on her hips, enjoying the smooth way her voice echoed in the room. "Was there a point to this?"  
  
It looked like she was starting to get the hang of things, too.  
  
Once again playing peacemaker, Barbara spoke up. "Helena and I have discussed a few things. While you're still learning what the other is capable of, and while the meta who did this is still out there, you are to report to the Clocktower at night. That means, Helena, you have to sleep here. And Dinah, no sneaking out to clubs after sweep." At her outraged look, she added, "Helena already told me you were thinking about it."  
  
Helena shot her a smug look and Dinah looked out the window, crossing her arms.  
  
"Also. While Helena's going to school, as you, you're going to have to fill her in a little on your classes--otherwise, she'll fail." Barbara ignored the shocked look on her face and continued, "And she will help you with the whole Huntress thing. Once we've settled into a comfortable pattern, we're going to attempt to switch you back."  
  
"How long will that be?" Dinah asked, still glaring out the window.  
  
Barbara sighed. "That's the thing. Both of your meta readings are off the charts right now. Things need to calm down first, and at the rate they're going--it won't be for at least a week or so."  
  
* * *  
  
End Part Two.  
  
And it goes on. 


End file.
